Page 130 of The Sun and the Star

Like they were being digested.

It all came to him then, and it felt as if something had been lifted from Will’s consciousness, some sort of gauze that had been there since they’d fallen into Tartarus on this very boat. He had never seen Tartarus for what it truly was. Everything before this had only been what his mind had been able to handle.

Will crawled forward. How had Nico described it?

Tartarus was alive.

Oh.

They wereinsidethe old god.

And this …

This was his digestive system.

Tears flowed out of Will’s eyes. No. No, this couldn’t be happening.This couldn’t be true. But his skin ached, his lungs struggled to fill themselves with air, and his eyes burned.

They were being consumed.

Tartarus wasalive.

Will felt his mind start to crack, to shatter. The pained voices in the river cried out to him, reminding him what a horrible person he was, showing him how many monsters he’d killed, how many campers and demigods he had failed to protect. His fingers were in his bushy hair, pulling it over and over again, and he clamped down on the scream building in his throat.

It was Small Bob who saved him.

Will felt claws in his shirt, on his chest. Small Bob’s face loomed in his, and he meowed loudly.

‘Huh?’ Will tried to grab the cat, but the furball darted off towards the bow of the boat.

‘Meow!’

‘What is it?’ Will struggled towards him.

The cat continued to mewl, so Will pulled himself up and peered over the hull.

The Acheron was widening, but that didn’t interest him. The shadows in the mist, however …?

Will squinted. Within the clouds of acid, he could just make out twisting shapes that rose out of the ground. The boat slowly drifted towards them until …

He knew.

He knew what they were!

‘Nico!’ he cried, then coughed. ‘Nico, I think we’re here!’

He turned quickly and Nico groggily pushed himself off the bench he was leaning on. ‘What?’ he said. ‘What is it?’

Will pointed as Small Bob mewed again. ‘I know those trees!’ hesaid. For a moment, the name escaped him, but then he was finally able to blurt it out. ‘Mangroves!’

Nico squeezed next to Will and spat again. ‘Which means …’

Small Bob meowed.

‘It’s aswamp,’ said Will.

Right then Small Bob leaped from the boat and landed on the shore. He kept pace with the boat, yowling loudly.

Nico groaned as he stood slowly. He stepped out of the canoe to follow Small Bob and waded his way to the banks of the Acheron.

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